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Review: The Favourite

Favor shifts..

In the 18th century Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) sits on the throne, but most of her decisions are made by her close friend, Lady Sarah Marlborough. (Rachel Weisz) Queen Anne is often sick, mentally and physically. When Abigail, (Emma Stone) Sarah's cousin who has fallen on hard times comes looking for a job, they began to fight for the Queen's affection.

There's a whole lot of petty in this movie and it's glorious. Director Yorgos Lanthimos is out there. If you've seen any of this films, you know that. This might be the least weird thing he's ever done. He didn't write the script, but his techniques are all over it. I loved seeing him take the script Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara wrote and put that strange touch on it.

Olivia Coleman is the star. Anne is so complicated. She's ill, moody, and tragedy follows her everywhere. Yet, she's not above taking advantage of Sarah and Abigail when they start their spat. She's so incredible, Lanthimos was right to let the camera linger on her, and see so many emotions play off her face. She absolutely deserves the Oscar for those. Stone and Weisz were also wonderful in their parts, though Stone is most certainly a lead. I loved how you would sort of root for one of these ladies, then they'd turn out to be the shadiest. Or the one you thought was the worst turns out to get the worst deal. It's like Harley (Nicholas Hoult) says. Favor shifts, my feelings shifted frequently with these characters.

And speaking of Hoult, the women in this movie are so good it's easy for everyone else to fall to the wayside but he was very good in this too. His character is such a messy bitch. He was so over the top and I couldn't help but laugh.

As you can probably tell, I loved this movie. I didn't want it to end. Period pieces can easily have moments where they drag and this didn't. I'm just in awe of it. My first review of 2019 will surely go on my Top 2018 list.

I can't wait to see it, it's one of my most anticipated movies in the months to come. It sounds amazing, thanks for the review! Also, I really hope Olivia Colman gets the attention she deserves, she's an amazing actress, I remember seeing her in a movie a couple of years ago and being blown away by her performance (Tyrannosaur), I've been watching her ever since

Great review Brittani! Interestingly enough, I actually like this one more initially but in the end I didn't love it. It's one of those I appreciate for its acting and visuals, etc. so it still makes my Honorable Mentions. I actually enjoyed Mary Queen of Scots more which also has strong female leads.

Nice review! There's so much to this movie - the cat and mouse games, the power play, the motivations of all the women. I totally agree that my feelings changed for the characters too. I kind of felt like the pacing was a bit messy at times, but this is definitely a memorable and amazing film regardless. It's going to be one of my favorites for 2019.

Yes!! This movie was indeed out there, and I agree it was his least weird. But it is still bizarre, like the fat guy laughing as people throw tomatoes at him... the absurd make-up on the bed... the 'wanking man' in the coach, the duck race... oh god it was brilliant!!

I agree Coleman was the star. I though Weisz was better though, the script was witty and she really delivered her lines with venom. And Stone.... is this her best performance?

SOOOOO glad you loved this! It's my number 2 of 2018 so far - loved Lanthimos's dark sense of humor seeping through everything and the performances are just out of this world, from the ladies of course (Emma Stone has never been this good), but the men, especially Nicholas Hoult and Joe Alwyn, are just as good.

I'm seeing this tomorrow with a Q&A with Yorgos and I couldn't be more excited.

LAMB #753

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